Economy of the Fall of Dragons
The Economy of the world of Ice and Fire is newsagents within the make-shift world of the Fall of Dragons. Merchants can make their own prices and the standards are not upheld for the barter of goods. However, the coinage of each kingdom is agreed by all merchants to have a standard value that can only be changed by the Kings and Councils of a country. The economy has may coinage and divisions of coin for each standing country but only some are accepted at face value. The breakdown is as follows in the link below. All merchants hold the value of each coinage between the Gold Standard (i.e the Gold Dragon) or the Honor Standard (i.e Volantis Honor), with the latter more commonly used. The fleeing of the Red Plague only strengthened the Westeros Economy as many of the bring their personal wealth with them. After the outbreak of the Red Plague, many of the coastal cities of the Free Cities are still recovering even after the long years. Thus their economies are not as strong as they once were and lack behind the Westeros Gold Dragons. This labor shortage had also made the Slave Trade ever more popular in the cities and prices skyrocket in the Free Cities, with the exception of Braavos. Coin Division Measurement System Units of weight measurement The following units of weight measurement have been described: * Tons * Pounds * Ounces * Stones (equal to 14 pounds) Units of volume The following units of volume have been described: * Pints * Gallons * Barrels, (is unclear if this term reflects a standardized size and unit of measurement, most merchants use barrels equal to 53 Gallons) Very powerful medicines administered by Maesters are usually just functionally measured in number of drops diluted into water or wine - any intervening units between a drop and a full pint, for larger amounts of medicine, haven't been mentioned, and might just be functionally measured as "a cup" of milk of the poppy. Units of length The following units of length have been described: * Inches * Feet * Yards * Rolls (40 Yards of Fabric 40 in tall) * Miles * Leagues (equal to three miles) Units of area measurement The following units of area measurement have been described: * Acres Banks The banks of the world had come to a complete standstill during the red plague. Many in the world would not recover from the loss of labor and educated individuals in the world. Nearly all of the known world banks had given out insurances to many of the merchants and businesses out there. With the crash of the economy in the Free Cities, the only one to come out unscaved was the Iron Bank of Braavos that made sure to call in all Loans before the peak of the deaths. Banks are important to the economy for many reasons, they issue loans and offer assistance to industry. They often issue Fiat Money, or Promised Currency. Examples are Bank Notes, Iron Coins, or lesser value items that hold value to the Bank for exchange. They are centers of Currency Exchanges to their kingdoms currency against foriegn coinage. This coinage would be handed over to the kingdom to be melted down and created their currency then returned to the bank. Or it would be held onto by the bank to issue to Merchants while traveling. Known Banks: * Iron Bank of Braavos * Free Cities Centralized Bank Guilds Commodity Guilds and Religious Groups have a large impact in the Economy. Commodity Guilds such as Merchants, Artisans, Mining, Smithing, and Farming Guilds are just a small part of what make them up. They are a group of people with business to protect that pool their monetary gains together to protect each other during hard times. If a Guild is successful, then they often lend their money out to others of similar industries if they join their guild. On grander scales these Guilds can often loan money to Lords during stress, or even leaders of governments. There are no large guilds in Westeros at the time, but many thrive in Essos. Largest being the Tyrosh Shipping Guild specializing in Slavery and Selling. Known Guilds: * Tyrosh Shipping Guild (HQ - Tyrosh) * Naked Ladies Merchant Guild (Lys) * Braavoshi Shipbuilding Guild (Braavos) * Free Merchants Guild (Pentos) * Riverlords Guild (Dagger Lake) * Ancient Guild of Spice (Qarth) * Forgotten Smiths Guild (Qohor) * Artisan Masters Guild (Myr) * Free Transport Company (Pentos) * Golden Ocean Company (Unknown) Religious Groups Religious Groups within the World are also a large part of the Economy. Treated differently in different nations, most nations allow the church of their politically accepted religion concession in taxation. This frees up much of the coffers that were donated through their followers. They often invest this in land to increase a secondary income for the church. At some points this evolves into building great monuments to their faith or investing/loaning in their followers that can improve the odds of them getting greater donations. For large faith groups, they could offer loans to the government and Lords. The largest of these Faith Groups would be the Church of the Faith of the Seven. Known Religious Groups: * Church of the Seven * Braavosi Pantheon * Followers of the Weeping Lady * Red Priest of the R'hllor * Follower of the Black Goat * Orphans of the Greenblood Resources and Goods The natural good are not spread evenly, many of the world's goods are traded because of this. Much of Essos currently relies heavily on the farming of Westeros due to the Red Plague. The large loss of life and many who fled left much of the land unsown for years. Even with the large influx of slaves, much of the Rhoynar did not recover. As such the larger trade cities turned to their industrial might and traded for the food that Westeros could offer. In return much of the world still relies on this system. The only place in the world that does not rely on the food supplies of Westeros is Qarth and the Summer Islands. Being as these places escaped the Red Plague and trade with other places for food. Trading is the backbone of being a Lord, due to the fact that this is how one gets money and fulfills their duty as Lords of the Land. Strategic Goods Lords and Leaders are in deep need of certain goods called strategic goods. These goods are used to increase the military might of their forces. These could be certain horses, better steel, or even stronger timber for their ships. Trading for these goods often increases the price so grabbing them early can often give one an edge in battle. Cultural Goods Other goods that Lords often seek to increase personal status is called Cultural Goods. These goods or resources can increase the states of a character. These could be as simple as Gold Jewelry to increase the Social Statistics by 1, and making it better to deal with NPC controlled by Admins. Others that are more rare are Dragon Bone weapons that can increase a Characters Fighting Statistics by bounds. These goods are often very expensive and rare to get so stores can run out. Supplies The last goods that one should keep an eye out and never forget are Supplies. These consist of the rest of the Resources and Goods of the world. These goods are used to upgrade the land one rules, or supplies an invasion. These consist of standard cheap goods such as food goods and iron weapons. Keeping a Realm and Army supplied is the base of any ruler. Most rulers of nations have enough supplies to keep a kingdom going. Lords on the other hand, have enough supplies to keep their Realm in order. If one wants to expand or invade, then they will need to trade to external forces or have money to back them up. Category:Miscellaneous